Enabling the Metaverse through mass manufacturing of industry-standard optical waveguide combiners

Stefan Steiner; Matthias Jotz; Frederik Bachhuber; Brian Bilenberg; Tobias Hedegaard Bro; Jan Matthijs ter Meulen; Erhan Ercan; Alireza R. Rashed; Murat Deveci

doi:10.1117/12.2649784

16 March 2023 Enabling the Metaverse through mass manufacturing of industry-standard optical waveguide combiners

Stefan Steiner, Matthias Jotz, Frederik Bachhuber, Brian Bilenberg, Tobias Hedegaard Bro, Jan Matthijs ter Meulen, Erhan Ercan, Alireza R. Rashed, Murat Deveci

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 12449, Optical Architectures for Displays and Sensing in Augmented, Virtual, and Mixed Reality (AR, VR, MR) IV; 1244906 (2023) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2649784
Event: SPIE AR | VR | MR, 2023, San Francisco, California, United States

Abstract

Nanoimprinting of surface-relief grating-based waveguides has the potential to result in the best performing Augmented Reality (AR) smart glasses, but there are still many challenges in the design, scaling, and reproducibility of these imprinted waveguides. We presented a promising path toward mass manufacturing of optical waveguide combiners via large-area nanoimprinting at SPIE AR/VR/MR 2022. This alternative route for manufacturing surface-relief gratings on a larger area generated much interest. This follow-up paper presents a further optimized design based on the lessons learned from the previous paper, with a particular focus on quality. The complete value chain with partners is involved throughout the process of this iterative update: from design, mastering, and materials to imprinting and metrology, to prove that this method improves not only the manufacturing throughput but also the waveguide quality. We demonstrate that both the replication and image quality is true to the intended design using large area, high refractive index (1.9 RI), square (300 x 300mm) glass substrates with high refractive index resins (1.9 RI). Our objective is to further establish this new approach towards high-volume and low-cost manufacturing of waveguides based on surface relief gratings as a viable path forward for enabling the Metaverse.

Conference Presentation

Citation Download Citation

Stefan Steiner, Matthias Jotz, Frederik Bachhuber, Brian Bilenberg, Tobias Hedegaard Bro, Jan Matthijs ter Meulen, Erhan Ercan, Alireza R. Rashed, and Murat Deveci "Enabling the Metaverse through mass manufacturing of industry-standard optical waveguide combiners", Proc. SPIE 12449, Optical Architectures for Displays and Sensing in Augmented, Virtual, and Mixed Reality (AR, VR, MR) IV, 1244906 (16 March 2023); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2649784

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